An in-depth overview of the role of the Royal Air Force's leaders during World War II.

The RAF did not come of age until the Second World War. The role of its forerunners in the Great War, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, although important, was peripheral to that of the ground forces.

The founding father of the RAF, Lord Trenchard, was determined that it should become a fully-fledged third service, equal in status to the Royal Navy and British Army, and this he succeeded in doing between the wars, firstly by setting up the RAF College at Cranwell, and Staff College at Andover, and secondly by providing a cost-effective policeman of the more rebellious parts of the British Empire.

By 1939 the RAF had grown substantially, but, of the three best aircraft of the coming War, only the Supermarine Spitfire was in service, as neither the Avro Lancaster nor the De Havilland Mosquito would be available until early 1942. Aircraft, however, were not enough. It was the leaders of the RAF, the subjects of this book, who would take the battle to the enemy and who, after six long years, would prevail.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
  • The origins of the RFC and the RNAS
  • The RNAS 1914–18
  • The RFC Western Front 1914–18
  • The RFC elsewhere 1914–18
  • The Trenchard Years 1918–29
  • The Locust Years 1930–33
  • The Expansion Years 1933–39
  • The Home Commands 1939–45
  • The Overseas Commands and Air Forces 1939–45
• The Air Marshals
  • Arthur Barratt
  • Donald Bennett
  • Norman Bottomley
  • Frederick Bowhill
  • Harry Broadhurst
  • Ralph Cochrane
  • Arthur Coningham
  • William Dickson
  • Sholto Douglas
  • Hugh Dowding
  • William Elliott
  • Basil Embry
  • Douglas Evill
  • Wilfrid Freeman
  • Guy Garrod
  • Arthur Harris
  • Roderick Hill
  • Leslie Hollinghurst
  • Philip Joubert
  • Trafford Leigh-Mallory
  • Hugh Lloyd
  • Arthur Longmore
  • Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt
  • Cyril Newall
  • Keith Park
  • Richard Peirse
  • Charles Portal
  • John Robb
  • Jack Slessor
  • Arthur Tedder
• Appendix - Other Leading Air Marshals
• Abbreviations
• Bibliography
• Plates